The Veridians

Chapter 6

Another day had passed by, and another day of attempts to transform Ari was in the works. Once again, Callahan & Ari stood outside with one another, attempting to reignite the spark. With the letter received, the two of them moved their work to right outside Callahan's home. As the two worked on their own business, Julian sat comfortably inside Callahan's home. His vest was bunched up on the floor, Julian's shirt he wore being slightly darker than when he first entered Verzawald. But as Julian sat inside by his lonesome, he continued working on something especially poignant. Over the course of his time in Verzawald, Julian began to draw in many pages of his journal. He hadn't drawn seriously since college, but he figured that with all the time he had to himself these days, he might as well pick it back up. And today, he began to work on a sketched-out portrait of someone. The person he was drawing had straight, dark hair that went down to their shoulders & round glasses. They were wearing a short-sleeved shirt & they had tattoos on the back of their arms. Underneath the portrait, a name was written in detailed bubble letters: "CALLAHAN."

Julian sighed, as he finished the last small detail on the bubble letters. He flipped to the next page of the journal & began to write something down.

"Journal Entry. I can't stop thinking about him. I see his face everywhere I go. I don't know why it's happening now of all times, but I can't get his sparkling eyes out of my head. It's blatantly obvious that we're never going to be a thing, but I still think about him. Why is this? Could it be.. No, it can't. He's never done anything to harm me in his life, there's no way it could be his fault.."

As Julian wrote down the last few words in his journal entry, Callahan approached the entrance to his home. Julian, in a panic, slammed the journal shut & dropped it on the floor beside the stump. Callahan pushed the leaf aside & walked into his home, his hair tied up. Once he was fully inside, he ran his fingers through his hair, revitalizing them as he did so. "I think I'm getting really close here, Julian. I just hope it's over soon, we've been working at this for so long now." Callahan took his hair tie out, gathering his hair in a bunch & redoing the tie. He looked down at Julian as he did this. "How long has it been since they first attacked us?"

Julian did not respond. As Callahan finished redoing his hair, he noticed Julian's facial expression, & he slowly began to approach Julian. "Hey, is everything alright? You seem.. Upset about something." Julian jolted himself back into an energized expression, at least the best he could do while he was still in his feelings. And quick to the punch, he reassured Callahan, "Oh! Yeah, everything's fine." Unfortunately, Callahan wasn't confident that Julian was telling the truth. But before he could talk to him any further, Julian jumped into the scenario & changed the focus to Callahan. "Callahan, come over here & take a seat. You look really tired from everything." Jokingly, Callahan brushed it off as if it were nothing. "What? Me, tired? No way. But, a moment of rest would be nice, yes."

He took a seat right beside Julian. They were silent for a good minute. Then from the silence, Julian took the liberty of bringing up the recent occurrences on Callahan's end. "So, how's everything with Ari going? Any success with your magic?" Callahan was uneasy. Instantly, at the mention of his power, he was brought back to the night prior. One sliver of him wanted to tell Julian about what happened, but the other knew how Julian would react if he knew the truth. He would be alone again. So, he kept his mouth shut. He did not answer Julian's question. An uneasy silence fell upon them. But once again, Julian broke the silence. "You know, I don't say this a lot, but I really appreciate everything you've done for me."

"Huh?"

"I don't remember how long I've been in Verzawald, but through everything that we've been through, you've always been there for me."

Callahan blushed a little. "Really? You really mean that about appreciating me?"

Julian smiled. "Aw, don't sell yourself short! You've been so kind to me throughout my whole journey. Through everything with Ari and Blaire and everything else that we've been through, you've been by my side, willing to risk everything for me." Julian put his hand on Callahan's shoulder. Callahan's face turned red. "I feel like I can trust you with anything. You've got such a kind heart, and I can't thank you enough for everything."